Eduardo Ryo Tamaki

Eduardo Ryo Tamaki is a Doctoral Researcher at the GIGA Doctoral Programme and a Research Fellow for the GIGA’s Democratic Institutions in the Global South (DEMINGS) project. Affiliated with the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy at the University of Erfurt, he specializes in political and electoral behavior, populism, far-right politics, and democratic backsliding. His work spans Latin America, Brazil, and the United States, with a focus on how populist rhetoric impacts governance and societal dynamics.

• Education: Master’s in Political Science (2020–2022) and Bachelor’s in Social Sciences (2015–2019), both from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Research encompasses populist discourse, democratic erosion, and gendered experiences during crises. His publications include analyses of Jair Bolsonaro’s incivility and debasement rhetoric on YouTube, workplace bullying in Brazil’s healthcare sector during the pandemic, and the evolution of populism in 21st-century elections. He employs qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and content analysis in his methodological toolkit.

Projects include co-leading the Climate Obstruction and Foreign Policy in Comparative Perspective (2024–2026) and contributing to the UNpacking POPulism (UNPOP) initiative (2022–present). He also founded and leads the Young Scholars Team at Team Populism (2021–present) and serves on its Textual Analysis team (2018–present).